Printing equipments, as utilized in homes or businesses, include an inked ribbon designed to supply a relatively consistent quantity of ink to the surface (i.e., paper) on which the device is printing over an extended period of time. The design of cartridges housing such ribbons varies from device to device and from manufacturer to manufacturer, with no industry standard that allows interchangeability.
As disclosed by Schiffmacher et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,715), older typewriters or similar machines utilized a double spool-type ribbon. With this type, the ribbon is wound around one of two spools, both of which are inserted at opposite sides of the printing mechanism with one such spool being driven by the printing device during use to advance the ribbon from the other spool. Such a construction functions to expose different areas of the ribbon to the printing mechanism. When all of the ribbon is transferred from one spool to the other, the operation is reversed.
As disclosed by Gottschlich (U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,387), the more recent trend in typewriter and business machine designs is to incorporate an ink ribbon in a disposable cartridge or cassette which can be readily installed and/or replaced in such printing machines. The operator of such machines merely removes the old cartridge when the ink on the ribbon is used up. The cartridge usually has feed means therein which cooperate with a driving member on the machine on which the cartridge is installed so as to transport the ribbon in the cartridge and thereby provide a fresh supply of ink to the print head located on the machine.
Among the cartridges and spool-type ribbons now available on the market, the size and design varies substantially. Some of these ribbon cartridges employ two reels therein on which the ribbon is alternately wound and unwound when used. This construction is similar to the older two-spool typewriter ribbons.
Other cartridges, most of which are presently available on the market, employ only one special reel or spool on which an endless ink ribbon is wound, and, as the reel rotates, the ribbon winds up on the outer turn of the ribbon on the reel. The ribbon is then withdrawn from the innermost turn of the ribbon from the reel.
Another type of cartridge employs a length of inked ribbon which is formed into an endless loop of ribbon which is not stored on any reel or reels within a cartridge, but is simply stuffed therein to produce many folds or convolutions in the ribbon. In this type of cartridge, the ribbon is simply fed into or stuffed into the cartridge by feed means located at an entrance of the cartridge and is pulled out of an exit area of the cartridge by the feed means as the ribbon is stuffed into the cartridge.
As recognized by Schiffmacher et al., many of the typewriting cartridges which are presently on the market contain a winding or rewinding and reloading mechanism which is extremely fragile and designed for short life during the one time use of the cartridge. Attempts to re-ink this type of cartridge by existing methods usually cause breakage which negates any possible savings.
Common to all printing device ribbons is a limited useful life. The ink available for printing in any cartridge or spool is depleted by use until a point at which the print quality becomes unacceptable. At this time, the user must decide whether to simply discard the cartridge and replace it with a new cartridge or utilize a recycling-type program in which the ribbons are re-inked for reuse. Both economic and environmental factors must be considered.
When considering the economics of re-inking a used printing device cartridge or spool, the user weighs purchasing equipment for re-inking such ribbons against sending them to an outside firm which supplies re-inking services. In either case, the cost of re-inking includes the price of equipment plus labor costs. Equipment costs will be a function of the number of re-inking devices which must be purchased to accommodate the various cartridge designs used in printing devices at any business. Labor costs will fluctuate with the speed at which a particular re-inking device can accomplish the re-inking procedure. These same factors affect the charges which would be made by an outside firm providing re-inking services.
Another factor providing impetus for recycling and re-inking ribbons is the continued rising costs of disposal or incineration of discarded waste. Both these costs and increasing environmental awareness by companies lead to a desire to re-ink used cartridges.
As discussed above, the ribbon cartridges utilized in printing devices vary dramatically in design from manufacturer to manufacturer and machine to machine. This includes variations in configuration, with some cartridges feeding from left to right while others feed from right to left. There are also variations in the location and design of the mechanism which advances the ribbon. Further, the ribbon advancement mechanism within most cartridges limits the rate at which re-inking may take place if the operation is controlled by such a mechanism. These mechanisms also have slippage in the advancement of the ribbon which leads to inconsistent re-inking due to a non-constant rate of advancement.
Presently available re-inking devices are limited in their ability to be adjusted to handle all of the variations in design outlined above. Thus, a business utilizing several different types of printing devices or the service company providing re-inking services to such businesses must purchase several re-inking devices to maintain a complete recycling program.
Generally, presently available re-inking devices include only a single one-direction motor without adjustable speed. Since the speed is not adjustable, the motor is preset at a low speed, while many cartridges may be re-inked at higher speeds. Further, without a positive drive motor, the advancement of the ribbon is dependent on the cartridge advancement mechanism.
Accordingly, the need exists for a universal ribbon re-inking apparatus for re-inking a ribbon utilized in a typewriter, computer printer, cash register, or other printing device. The needed universal re-inking apparatus should be readily adjustable to accommodate spools and cartridges of left-hand or right-hand design with various ribbon widths. Finally, the ribbon re-inking apparatus should include both a drive motor and a take-up motor which allow bypassing the ribbon advancement mechanism integral to the cartridge so that speed may be adjusted to minimize the time required to re-ink such ribbons.
The present invention addresses these needs as well as other problems associated with existing ribbon re-inking devices. The present invention also offers further advantages over the prior art and solves other problems associated therewith.